Chapter CXC: So it Begins
August 13, 2552 (UNSC Calendar)/
Szurdok Ridge, Viery Territory, Reach, Epsilon Eridani System
"Sometimes they care, sometimes they don't."– Sergeant Naveen Avninder
"It's getting late, Frank," Pavel said. "We should catch some zees."
"You're the worst spotter ever," I replied.
"Well, you sent Preacher and Snark off together, so this is your own mess."
I nodded slightly. There was a small valley-like space in front of us. Unlike most of this ridge it was full of trees that could be hiding anything from a jackal to a Revenant tank. I had sent two other teams of sharpshooters to try and spot anything. We hadn't actually been successful, but from our limited thermal and drone capabilities we could tell that there was some covvie activity in there.
"Yup, still empty," Pavel said.
"Ok, ok," I sighed. "Sharpshooter teams, fall back."
"Yes, sir," Snark came in.
"Gotcha, El-tee," Miranda replied on the same channel.
I slid backwards for a few meters and then got up on a crouch. From there Pavel and I rolled and fell our way back down to the base of the peak and then walked five minutes towards the camp. The two Scorpions were both packed tightly into a cave with a few of my men inside. The camp itself basically consisted of a bunch of ODSTs, sailors, and soldiers asleep on the ground.
"Hey sir, gunny," Crow greeted quietly.
"We've got the other two teams coming in," Pavel informed him. "Don't get jumpy."
"Understood, got it."
I walked through my men, trying to avoid waking them up. There was a group of Army soldiers that we had run into a few hours ago. They were a ragtag bunch, consisting of members of three separate battalions that had run into each other after all shit hit the fan. A few of them looked like they would need some therapy, but for the most part they appeared to be a sensible bunch that would follow my orders. All fifty of them. The lack of officers in their group was unusual, but at least it meant that there was no chance for anyone to override my orders.
Sounds kind of grim, but shit like that happens.
"Hey lieutenant," one of the soldiers said as I walked nearby. "I think we managed to get the radio to punch through the interference."
"That's good news," I said. The covvies had a system in place that prevented the weaker signals from reaching satellites in orbit and the network of antennas was currently a little bit… destroyed. "Did you send something out yet?"
"Nah," the man replied. "Sarge was waiting for you."
"Where is she?"
"Over there," he pointed.
I looked at Pavel and he shrugged before taking off. I walked towards the woman in charge of the soldiers and settled into a crouch next to her. She looked up and nodded slowly before reaching around and grabbing a large radio pack.
"Here it is," she said tiredly. "Make the call."
"Thank you, sergeant," I thanked her. I set the channel to one of the emergency frequencies that the UNSC Camerone had.
I waited a couple of seconds for the signal to stop chattering. "Camerone, Camerone, this is Alpha-Alpha-Golf-Seven-Actual. Do you copy?" I paused. "I know you're there Bolivar."
"My, my. Lieutenant, I see you're still alive."
"I'm a tough man to kill," I told the AI. "You know that. Why are you so surprised?"
"Well, it so happens that the area your signal is coming from is almost completely under Covenant control."
"What?" I asked. "We haven't seen any movement in hours."
"Well, according to the sensors here you have a battalion-sized force less than two kilometers from your position. Then there are several infantry companies to your south and east and then there's the two armored columns moving up to meet the battalion."
"Bolivar, you've got to be fucking kidding me."
"I'm sorry, El-tee," the AI apologized. "I've done three different system checks since you called and the systems aren't lying."
"So we're surrounded?" I asked him, keeping my voice as quiet as possible. "Can you help out?"
"Not really," Bolivar said. "I'm sending you pictures of the area and current enemy locations. The 61st Armored is a hundred and five kilometers away from your position and closing in. But as I said, the enemy presence in the area is heavy and it'll take some time for them to reach you."
"Fucking great," I muttered. "Images are up?"
"Yeah," he replied. "Even added little tags so that you know what everything is."
"Yeah, thanks," I said. "Ok, that sounded more sarcastic than I meant it to be. We'll see about surviving."
"Good luck," Bolivar said.
The channel clicked, officially declaring the conversation over.
"Bad news," the Army sergeant said. "Really bad news."
"Yeah," I agreed. "Let them sleep two more hours. After that we'll see what our options are."
"Yes, sir," she replied.
I nodded and thanked her before transferring the images from the radio pack to my helmet. I went through them and cursed. Thermal and conventional imagery showed the Covenant positions clearly and the tags that Bolivar added were quite helpful. The ridge that we had been watching had more than a thousand individual soldiers as well as mortars and vehicles. The companies to the south were smaller, but still larger than our whole group put together.
"Ah shit," I muttered.
There were groups of Banshees and Phantoms moving about. They looked frozen in the pictures, but they didn't appear to be coming anywhere close to where we were. It was a pretty bad situation all in all, and our position wasn't as defensible as I would've liked.
"We need to move," Schitzo said. "Those two companies are moving towards us."
I nodded. We can probably smash through both of them with help from the tanks… But then there's the battalion back there and the air assets.
"Yeah," Schitzo said. "We run?"
We don't run. We smash the enemy while avoiding the bigger threat.
"So we run away from the battalion."
"Yup," I replied, willing him to disappear.
"Hey, sir," Miranda said. "Nothing to report."
"Yeah, I'm not sure about that," I told her. "Bad news Miri."
"Aw crap," she muttered. "I was so happy."
I shrugged. "Catch some sleep," I told her. "Two hours and I'll fill you in."
"Sir."
I sat down near a rock the size of my head and shuffled myself so that the little rock worked as my pillow. It took some time but I eventually found the sweet spot and closed my eyes.
"Banshees!"
"Of course," I muttered quietly.
The three explosions rang my ears. One of them even shook me sideways, scorching the weeds around me. I groaned and got back up.
"Rockets, rockets!" I shouted. "Tank, Bee, where the fuck are you?"
"I'm on my way!" Bee shouted.
"They're coming for another pass!" one of the soldiers shouted.
"Get down!"
This time the Banshees started a strafing run. The soldiers were targeted first, a few of them were hit, but most managed to get out of the way. The fliers kept on going, hitting the rocks where my men were scattered about. I ducked behind my tiny little rock in a vain attempt to get some cover. A few bolts hissed when they hit the rocks next to me, but the Banshees missed my men and me.
"Bee, what the fuck?" I asked.
"Got the fucker," he shouted back.
Bumblebee fired his Spartan Laser at one of the Banshees, neatly bisecting it. A second later two rocket flew up and hit another of the enemy fliers, tearing it apart. The third flier started turning away from us.
"No, wait!" I shouted. "Don't!"
It was too late. Either Tank or Mata fired at the Banshee just as it made it over the ridge. The missile tracked it and disappeared over the other side. The explosion came a couple of seconds later. I could just picture the entire Covenant battalion looking up to see the bright detonation. It was as good a beacon as any. Right now they would be going into alert and sending messages to the companies in the area.
"I want us ready to move in one minute!" I shouted. "Get the wounded on the tanks. Any dead?"
"Just one!"
"Leave him behind," I said. "Back the way we came from!"
I sent the maps and pictures to all my squad leaders as well as the men and women in charge of the Army soldiers. I heard a few loud curses after they got them, but at least they knew what we were up against.
The tanks rumbled to life and left the cave.
"One tank in the front one in the back," I said. "I need a scout group with some serious firepower. Enough to buy us time if we run across an enemy company."
"We can do that," a corporal said. He and his five men belonged to an armored division. Most of them were squad gunners. Apparently they were chilling in a ditch when the supercarrier fired. Their squads were all fried and most of them had serious burns.
"You've got the firepower," I said. "Got the stealth?"
"I think we're long past that point, Lieutenant."
"Point taken," I agreed. "Go."
Pavel walked past me with Predator squad behind him. Snark broke off to the right, disappearing into the darkness.
"Preacher," I called. "Go with the scout squad. They'll need long-range."
"Yes, sir."
"Rest of you, form up in between the tanks. Eyes open."
The tanks rumbled down the dirt path, going slow as to avoid falling down the side of the road. I jogged alongside the men for ten minutes before I heard Preacher's EMR bang loudly. A second later a barrage of machine gun fire followed. It was a solid five seconds before the Covenant soldiers managed to return fire. The lead tank stopped and waited for instructions. Preacher contacted the driver and gave him the direction to fire in.
We all crouched as the Scorpion's turret whirred and then winced when it fired. The tank fired three more times, wiping out a bunch of the Covenant soldiers. As soon as the tank stopped firing Pavel took his squad down to wipe out what was left of the enemy company.
"We won't have the high ground for long," Andy said.
"Magnet's right, sir," Crow said. "As soon as we move back into the highway we'll stop having the advantage."
Magnet… I thought, smiling at the nickname. It never ceased to amuse. "Yeah, that's why we need to move fast."
Preacher's EMR rang two more times before they called it clear.
"Marv, Longworth," I said, picking my two best fighters. "Double-check that."
"Yes, sir," Longworth replied. The man always sounded like he was smiling. Maybe he was for all I knew. He had a great smile, like model-good.
"Keep moving!" I shouted.
The next Covenant company that we met was on equal ground. They got a few good shots at some Army troopers that didn't take cover quickly enough and shot off the armor on the front right tread of one tank. In the end our two tanks proved to be an advantage and we managed to drive them back. Unlike our past encounter we couldn't completely wipe them out, but we bought ourselves enough time to keep running down the mountain.
Ok… we're on the valley floor now. We're so fucking screwed.
The dirt road twisted through the valley floor, with steep slopes on either side we would be susceptible to enemy fire from both sides. The tanks started driving faster, pressing us to run in order to keep up with them. Normally some of us would've climbed on top of the tanks, but those things were prime targets. Nobody wanted to be fried in the opening salvo.
"Sir, I'm seeing some Phantoms moving in towards you," Snark said quietly. "Yup, definitely towards you."
"Where are those two idiots?" I asked.
"Dotsenko and Ramirez are right here," Lady said, drawing some chuckles.
"I was talking about Marv and Longworth."
"Oh, you mean Mr. Talent and Mr. Everything Is Easy?" Ramirez asked. "Cause those two idiots are not us."
"Most definitely," Dotsenko agreed.
"We're here, sir," Longworth checked in. "Not too close right now, but there's a lot of air movement."
"I hear you," I replied. "Try to catch up. We'll need your help soon enough."
The first Phantom appeared a minute or two later. It fired at the rearmost Scorpion with its heavy cannon and tried to strafe us infantry grunts. When it moved sideways to give its gunners an angle the lead Scorpion fired a shot. The Phantom shook violently and a couple of jackals fell down one of the sides. The rest of the soldiers on board jumped down the gravity lift and started spreading out before the Scorpion fired again, hitting the Phantom's rear, putting it into a spin.
"Don't let them get to cover!" someone shouted.
"Fire right, fire right!"
I ducked behind one of the tanks. A few plasma bolts hit the ground where we had been standing on seconds ago, but everybody had taken cover on the opposite side of the road. I fired at a stumbling elite and ordered the column to start moving again. It's not like we couldn't run and shoot at the same time. The elites in charge were probably getting a bit offended that we were ignoring them, but the tanks' coaxial machine guns changed their mind soon enough.
I moved forward and jumped on top of the lead tank. "Sergeant, how are we on the ammunition department?"
"You know, a lot of people think that the Scorpion has an unlimited ammunition feature."
"Sergeant…" I pressed.
"I've got fifteen rounds left," he said. "And little over 2000 in the M247T."
I winced slightly. "Not too good."
"It could be worse," he said. "A lot worse."
"I know," I told him. "Well… try and conserve."
"Will do, El-tee," he told me. "Gotta admit, this is going better than expected."
"It always does," I assured him. "At least for a while."
"You sure know how to inspire a man."
"I'm better with girls."
"They all say that."
I chuckled and jumped down the tank. I stumbled for a couple of meters before I regained my balance. It was easy to forget just how fast these tanks could move. One of the Army guys helped me regain my balance and I settled into a fast jog with them. The highway was just a couple hundred meters away and once we got there we would have a nice vertical cliff to our left and a nice vertical fall to our right. The only way we could be attacked was from ranger troops dropping from above or fliers coming at us from the air. Tank, Bee, and Mata could handle the Banshees with relative ease and the tanks could take out any dropships that came at us.
We knew that, the covvies knew that, we all knew that.
"Snark?"
"I'm catching up," he replied in between breaths. "You on the pass already?"
"Nah," I said. "We're going to get there in about thirty seconds."
"Are they waiting for you there?"
"I've got a feeling that they are."
"Daemon!" someone shouted.
"They are," I confirmed.
"I'll get there, Snark out."
The Damon fired and missed by a hair, but the plasma shell went past the Scorpion and tore apart one of the soldiers, engulfing at least one other in the blast. The two Scorpions fired almost simultaneously, but I didn't get to see the results. I managed to duck behind a boulder just in time for a barrage of plasma fire to land. Two of my men fell along with several more Army soldiers.
"I'm hit! I'm hit!" Lady shouted.
"Stop moving!" I told her. "Everybody get out of the road!"
"It hurts!" she cried.
"Relax!" I told her. "Payat, where the hell are you?"
"Over here!" he called out. "Andy was hit."
I rolled my eyes. "Of course she was."
"Seems to have knocked her out. Vitals seem fine though."
"She's a rock, that one," Pavel said. "Where was she hit?"
"Chest."
"Ah, another scar in her boobs," Marv said, joining in. "Maybe she'll show it to us."
"For the love of God!" Lady cried.
"Right," I muttered. "I'm coming to get you."
I prepared myself and sprinted towards her, sliding into position behind her. She immediately started complaining that I was using her body for cover. I rolled my eyes and fired at the muzzle flashes with my battle rifle. I looked down at Lady and saw that she had been hit right above the knee. It was a low risk area, but she wouldn't be able to put weight on it.
"Don't scream."
I flipped her around so that she was facedown and sure enough Lady cried out as her exposed raw skin made contact with the dirt road. I shook my head and grabbed the back of her vest before dragging her out of the road and into the ditch on the side.
By that point Lady was screaming quite loudly.
"You sure know how to treat a Lady," Bee said.
"That was terrible," Miranda muttered.
"Ok," I said slowly. "Biofoam on the way. Don't you just love this thing? It's like magic foam. It does everything. Now try not to bite your tongue off."
Lady screamed for the third time in fifteen seconds. It was hard not to wince at the sound of it. She was a very high-pitch screamer. After a few seconds she stopped screaming and instead began hyperventilating. I held her shoulders against the ground for three more seconds before I decided that her body wouldn't try to get away from me without her being able to control it. People had this tendency to avoid the source of pain.
"You ok?"
"No," she replied. "You pretty much just butchered my leg."
"Not my fault you got hit, Lady," I told her. "Now stop whining."
"Yeah, give her some tough love," Ramirez said.
I looked at Lady. After two years of being in a high-risk unit she still seemed to believe that her social status made her somewhat better than us. Down in the trenches she was just another one of us poor people. It was the first time that she had been shot during her stay with AAG-7. Maybe it would make her stop being such a bitch.
"Don't move," I ordered.
"I can't," she replied dryly.
"Don't be a bitch," I ordered. "And don't say anything."
I got back up and started moving up behind the lead tank alongside Pavel and his squad. The Army troops had spread out and were currently forming a semi-circle around the small enemy unit supporting the Daemon.
"Daemon is down," the tanker said. "I still have infantry up ahead."
"We'll handle that," I told him. "Hang back and conserve ammunition."
"I know how to do my job, Lieutenant."
"Sorry," I apologized. I was the kind of guy who enjoyed giving out orders to everyone, but not all officers did that. A lot of people simply expected their underlings to follow their training. It was a reasonable expectation, but sometimes it didn't quite pan out.
Predator squad and the Army guys wiped out the enemy forces after a short firefight, but the covvies were already moving troops behind us.
"All right! Move up. Polly, Mata, help me set up explosives on the walls. We're going to block the road behind us."
"That's a pretty wide pass, sir," Mata said. "We can't block all of it."
"A bottleneck is better than nothing," I told him. "Come on, let's go."
The two Scorpions rolled around the smoking Daemon as my men finished up. They started heading back down the highway just as we finished setting up the explosives on the rock walls. It wasn't my best work, but it would bring a nice bunch of rocks down. After all, C-12 was almost as good as bifoam when it came to universal problem solver.
"All done," I said. "Mata?"
"Almost finished."
"Polly?"
"And done."
"Done," Mata said.
I nodded. "Ok, let's get out of here."
I detonated the C-12 when we were out of range and then just kept on running down the highway. It was very uncomfortable, the highway itself wasn't actually built over something solid, instead it was hanging off the side of the cliff. The mountains in this planet had a tendency to look cartoonishly steep. While the structure holding the highway up was being a little bit strained by two tanks weighing over fifty tons each. The groaning metal made me nervous.
"There's a highway station two kilometers away," Caboose said.
"Last time we were in a fuel station it blew up," I reminded him.
"You guys really have to start talking about your past missions more," Polly said. "You keep teasing with that story about the tank and the parachute."
I smiled. "Caboose, is it a fuel station?"
"Yes."
"Can we drain it?"
"Our tanks could use refueling," one of the tankers said. "Well, not really, but we can use up a lot of it."
"Wouldn't that make you extra volatile?" Snark asked.
"Our armor is explosive," the man replied. "It literally blows up when we're hit."
"No it's not," I said. "Scorpions stopped using explosive armor when we realized the covvies used plasma."
"Who are you?" Pavel asked. "Grass?"
"Who is this Grass you keep talking about?" Polly asked. "He sounds interesting."
"Oh, you would love her," Marv said. "She'd make you feel even dumber."
I stifled laughter even when the rest of the guys who knew Grass didn't. I had to maintain at least some semblance of professionalism.
"I'm still trying to see if the station is a viable defensive location."
"Looks like it," Caboose said. "Only one small pump, it is dug into the mountainside. We can put a Scorpion on either side and hold our position for a while."
"The 61st is a pretty long way off, sir," Mata said. "And we're not exactly well-supplied, you know?"
"He's got a point," Schitzo told me. "We can always commandeer enemy weapons if we need to, but the tanks aren't going to get any more ammunition."
"Can we arrange for evac?" Caboose asked. "If it is possible we can handle the enemy for a while."
"I'm not sure about evac," I grunted. "Back in the Flawless I could call in favors every now and then."
"Advantages and disadvantages," Pavel said.
"We get the same budget that the entire complement of the Flawless got," Marv said. "We're twenty guys plus support staff here. We used to be over two thousand men back on board the Flawless. I guess it evens out somewhat."
"When was the last time we went over budget?" Ramirez asked.
"I think the last time we reached fifty percent I got a dressing down," I told him. "You really went overboard with armor."
"Sorry," they replied meekly.
After I got yelled at for two straight hours I yelled at my men for four straight hours. It was mostly a matter of principle really, they were to blame for me being scolded and they had to go through the same thing. After an hour and a half I was basically recycling the initial insults with different words. After the third hour I just started abusing every one individually. I apologized at the end, but they understood the gist of it.
A massive budget was good and all, but we still had some restrictions. I had filled out the paperwork to get us a Sledgehammer railgun several months ago and they were still trying to get one to us. The word trying is used in the loosest sense of the word. When you think about it, they could get us fancy armor almost immediately, but weapons took a while. It was almost like they wanted us to get shot out there.
"Can you contact the 61st?" Pavel asked.
I tried.
"Nope," I replied after the second try. "They're too far away right now."
"So the closest UNSC asset is too far away for radio contact," Bee mused. "Fucking great."
"Wise words, my man," Snark said. "And they're actually true. Well, sarcastically speaking."
"That kind of loses the meaning," Andy told him. Apparently she was good enough to
"Magnet, you're no fun," Snark said.
"Please don't call me that," she said. "I just got shot."
"Ok, there's the station," one of the tankers said. "You lot are annoying, you know that."
"It comes with the job description," Pavel deadpanned. "Frank?"
"We've got a better chance here than out in the open," I decided. "Bunker down in the station, try and get evac. If we don't at least we'll be drawing some of the Covenant assets away from the 61st. Win-win."
"Unless we die," Tank said. Hid deep voice gave those words more seriousness than anybody else could've managed.
"Drama queen," Pitcher said.
"Please give the situation the consideration it deserves," I said. "Tanks, one on either side of the station, back out and aim down one of the sides, minimize your profile. We've got any cars nearby?"
"A bunch," Crow said. "We'll start moving them."
"Let the Army men do it," I said. "They're better at fortification than we are."
"Do you want me to rig explosives to the highway?" Polly asked.
I paused to give that some thought. "Yes. Preacher, help him out with that. See if you can get some on the supports underneath."
"Sounds dangerous," Preacher noted. "I can pray some for you."
"Please don't," Polly said sharply.
Preacher chuckled. "Like I would ever waste my time on you."
"Wow, I'm flattered."
I was about to tear my hair off. They were even worse than I was an enlisted soldier or an NCO. Maybe you could excuse it as combat nerves or something that they did to avoid thinking that they were about to die any moment, but they were supposed to be the very best there were. Admit it, when was the last time you saw a film or played a game where the super elite soldiers constantly snarked at one another. Sure, there was the occasional quip or sarcastic comment, but not on this whole other level.
Deep breaths… deep breaths…
By the time I reached the station the first tank was already parked and aiming down the highway. The Army soldiers had moved two cars and blocked half the highway with them. A few of them were moving further down the highway to get a couple of abandoned trucks while the rest pushed the two cars on their sides.
"Vent the hydrogen cells!" one of them shouted.
"Huh," Marv said next to me. "Never really thought of that."
"And they don't teach that in OCS," I said. "They really should."
"Yup," he said in agreement. "I'm going to go clear the building."
"Take Serge with you," I said.
"He's already waiting," Marv replied.
I shook my head. Sometimes my men didn't talk to me with the respect that you'd expect. But nowadays you didn't serve under the same lieutenant for over five years. Hell, the guys from Reaper had been having me as their direct superior since pretty much forever. No wonder they saw me more as a friend than a lieutenant that they had to obey. I didn't blame them, but the newer guys were already beginning to follow their pattern. One time it would be Bee ribbing me on something I said and then I'd have Pitcher trying to do the same. Not cool.
"Frank, we're almost done, are you going to keep standing there?" Pavel asked.
"I'll stand here for as long as I damn well please," I shouted back. "Polly, how's it going?"
"I'm pulling him back up," Preacher huffed. "We got this."
"Move it up," I said. "Or do you need me to personally go help you?"
"I'm up, I'm up," Polly said. "We're on our way."
"Polly, you're in charge of blowing that shit up as soon as something major moves over it."
"Yes, sir," he said, sounding eager to blow something up.
I waited for them to walk by me and then followed inside the hastily set up perimeter. It was a pretty nice setup all things considered, but with enough Wraiths the cars would turn into molten slag and then the infantry would just keep on coming.
"I guess an additional defense ring is out of the question," Schitzo chided.
"Building's clear!" Marv called. "Full of food."
"Booze?" I asked.
"Beer."
"Engine oil?"
"I like where you're going," Bee said.
"Yeah," Marv confirmed. "Quite a lot of it, actually."
"I'm breaking a very important rule today. We're wasting all that beer. Lady and Andy, start making cocktails."
"Why are you getting the girls to do it?" Miri asked.
"Would you care to join them?" I asked her.
"No."
"They're both injured, smartass," I told her.
"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."
"Can we get someone up the cliff walls?" I asked.
"Not likely," Longworth said. "I used to go rock climbing, but those walls are perfectly vertical, laser cut."
"Is there anything you don't do?" I asked him.
"I'm sure I can think of something," he replied. There was a definite sense of satisfaction in his voice. Fucking wonder boy, his marksmanship scores were almost as good as mine.
"All right, all right," I muttered. "Listen up everybody! You too Army boys! We're not getting evac and the Covenant sure as hell knows where we are right now. We've got walls on our sides and two Scorpion tanks with us, if we don't survive this for the four hours that we need to, then we are worthless and deserve to die. The 61st Armored is coming through and we're going to be here to say that we didn't need any rescuing when they do. You feel me?"
"Yes, sir!" my men shouted.
"Hooah!" the Army soldiers shouted.
I smiled. It wasn't quite an Oorah, but it was good enough for me.
"Sir, sir."
I opened my eyes and blinked several times. I glanced down at my wrist tactical pad and saw that I had dozed of for almost forty minutes. Not for the first time I wondered why exactly I kept my clock on the tacpad as opposed to my HUD, and not for the first time I reminded myself that it was better to have a clean HUD as opposed to one full of target reticules, mission indicators, waypoints, and other similar displays.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Our scouts are reporting enemy movement in the pass we brought down," Crow told me, sitting down in front of me.
"Scouts?"
"Yeah, Gunny sent them."
"Uh-huh," I nodded. "Should I be concerned?"
"Not yet, they appear to be building up their forces before marching down. We're assuming that they know where we are."
"They probably do," I agreed. "The Molotov cocktails?"
"Lady and Magnet finished with them a few minutes ago. Most of the liquor was poured on the sink."
"Most?"
He nodded, actually smiling a little bit. "Lady and Magnet decided that their WIA status made them deserving of a beer each."
I sighed. Had they asked me I wouldn't have denied it of them, but they hadn't even bothered.
"Gunny let them when they asked," he went on. "He said that you needed the sleep."
If anybody knew me it was Pavel.
"Did you catch some rest yet?" I asked the young Army trooper. "You didn't get much sleep back in the mountains."
"You didn't get any sleep at all, sir," he said, pulling out a non-regulation blade. He crossed his leg over his knee and started picking at his boots, trying to get a piece of molten glass from the sole. I observed the knife for a while. It wasn't the standard-issue machete-like blade that we all got when we first joined. It was about forty centimeters long and looked like something that a Brute would be proud to use.
"Nice blade," I noted dryly, opting to avoid telling him that it looked crude.
"Thanks, sir," he replied, examining his massive knife. "I got it custom made before I shipped off for my second tour of action. Cro-Van steel and leather grip handle. This baby hasn't let me down yet."
"Looks vicious," I said. "What did your smith base himself on? A Bowie knife?"
"Yeah, it's an homage of sorts," Crow said. "Slightly slimmer blade, but still has the overall appearance."
"Wouldn't you prefer using a smaller knife to take dirt off your boots?" I asked, pulling out the backup knife on my chest strap and offering it to him grip-first.
"No thanks, sir. This is my good luck charm."
I shrugged and flipped the knife back around before sheathing it. "If you say so, Crow. Crow… you know, I used to serve with a guy we called Scarecrow. Crow, for short."
"What happened to him?"
"Several needles to the midsection," I said, closing my eyes. I could remember the image vividly. I had been holding onto him and trying to pull him on board the Pelican even as we evacuated the port. Maybe if I had been a little bit faster, a little bit stronger…
"Ouch," Crow muttered.
"Yeah, his whole lower body was torn apart. He was closer than you and I are when he died."
"Must've been tough."
"It was," I agreed. "Scarecrow was one of a kind. Too nice to have a job like ours, but too damned good at it to be able to do anything else. Huge-ass man. Almost as big as Tank, damn near as black as him too."
"One scary motherfucker then?"
"You could call him that," I chuckled. "He had no trouble fighting down elites if it came down to it."
"I'm sorry, sir."
I sighed. "No need to be. He died a long time ago and we've all come to terms with it." I looked around and saw that most of the Army soldiers were catching some sleep. My men were nowhere to be seen, presumable they were either off on patrol or just sleeping inside the small store.
"Why do you carry so many knives?" Crow asked suddenly. "Well, I honestly just want to know what the story is with that one." He pointed at the Damascus steel knife sheathed on my right boot.
I reached down and yanked it out. I spun it several times out of habit, but I felt satisfaction when Crow's eyes widened slightly at my theatrics. I finished up be tossing it in the air and letting the former Army soldier snatch it. He examined the blade curiously, trying to follow the random patterns that curved and twisted around it.
"Interesting knife," he said. "Looks like a mix between a kukri and a regular combat knife. Where did you get this?"
"It was a gift," I told him. "Given to me right before I left to train on Mars."
"You were trained on Mars? I thought that all Helljumpers came here for their training."
"Most do," I said, "but there are a few that don't. The 19th is headquartered in Mars."
"I hear life in there is hell."
"And training wasn't any easier," I furthered. "At least we had less gravity to deal with, even if it wasn't that much."
"From what I've heard about ODST training, it sounds more brutal than effective, sir."
"It's both," I said, recalling the days when Gabuka ran us until our legs literally couldn't move and Bulldog beat us as much as he could get away with. I wondered if those two bastards were still alive.
"Bootcamp wasn't a walk in the park for me," he said, "but the training regime for SPECWARCOM began to look a lot like hell after the first thirty minutes. Not to say that your training methods fell far behind, sir."
"I eased up on the brutality," I said. "But I made it as tough as I could. You know, it helped me see why the drill sergeants are such sadistic bastards."
"I always thought it was unfulfilling lives."
I shook my head. "Those men play one of the most important roles in this war. They prepare meat like you and I to go out and take as many covvies with us before we die."
"I never saw it quite like that," Crow admitted. "I do respect what they do, though. Even if it took me a long time to figure it out."
"You did always strike me as the slow kind," I said. "Wait. Was there something else other than reports of enemy movement?"
"Not really," he said. "Snark was wondering whether he should stay or leave."
"Ah," I nodded slowly. I quickly accessed a map of the terrain and my helmet immediately pinpointed Snark's location. It was only a couple hundred meters away from the station and maybe half a kilometer away from the pass that lead into the mountainous terrain. "Snark, don't give away your position unless you see a field marshal or golden armor. Leave when it becomes obvious that they're going to attack."
"Yes, sir," Snark replied. "Gold means go."
"Did you know that the first time I met him I couldn't get more than five words out of his mouth?" I asked Crow.
"Who? Snark?"
"Yeah."
"No way," he chuckled. "How did that change?"
I smiled. "You know, now that you mention it, it was Scarecrow. They became fast friends and Snark became more open. First he would just make a sarcastic comment every now and then, I think it was his way of getting himself known. Then it just became who he was.
"Well, I like the new Snark," he said. "Even if I never met the old one."
"Good. You would've liked the old Reaper squad too. Back then we were all about your age and in way over our heads. Remind me to tell you about that time with the Sledgehammer."
"Or the tank?" he suggested.
"Maybe later," I said. I liked telling that story, and when I told it I tried to make it as memorable as possible so I just kept teasing and teasing until one day I finally told it with some help from Pavel or Bee. Bee in particular made for a great companion storyteller.
"Some other time then," Crow said regretfully. "One more question."
"Yeah?"
"Why do you call him Bee?"
I smiled and laughed a little bit. "Back in the day he came in with a battered and damaged armor. He had been through a bunch, but the most noticeable thing about it was the fresh yellow paint that covered most of it. Took to calling him Bumblebee just because it doesn't sound as good as Bee. Eventually we just shortened it for convenience. I still call him Bumblebee sometimes."
"Gotta love custom armor," Crow said.
I looked him over. He was wearing a regular undersuit with the twist of it being colored in standard UNSC Army camouflage pattern. Covering his lower legs he had the armored knee-high plated boots that Army Rangers and Airborne used, but had avoided full thigh armor in place of lighter plates that only covered his front and sides. On his upper body Crow had a relatively tight vest with a crotch protector. Over that he had the ODST belt-like armor that protected your abdomen and a Soldier chest piece shipped straight from the Damascus Testing Facility in Chi Cheti IV. But that wasn't all; he also had some light forearm armor on that also covered the back of his hand and a small shoulder piece on his right arm. His left arm had similar coverings with the exception that they were considerably bigger and thicker. That meant additional protection on his exposed side whenever he was firing at the enemy. He topped it all off with an Airborne Assault helmet. All in all Crow's armor configuration was much like those of the rest of the team, with variation in chest pieces and leg and arm covers.
"God bless custom armor indeed," I agreed, thinking of my own state-of-the-art armor and how it had saved me countless times.
What I was wearing was at its core ODST armor. The UA/Multi Threat shoulder pieces that I had worn for so long had long since become useless and had been replaced by Harvest-Era pauldrons. The left one was larger than the right one and they both had the tendency to not absorb plasma heat properly, but they were incredibly effective against solid projectiles and also looked pretty good. My boots were a lighter and slimmer version of the standard ODST armored boots that the instructive claimed were even more effective at stopping projectiles and dispersing heat. My helmet was still the one I had ordered a few years ago. It still had its black visor, but I had replaced some of the plating with more modern armor and added a CNM at the behest of Captain Flatt. While the little cylinder looked awkward on the side of my helmet, it certainly did wonders for communications and keeping track of everybody.
Yeah, gotta love custom armor.
"Get some sleep," I ordered Crow. "We're going to be under attack and fighting for our lives in about twenty minutes."
"Yes, sir. Shouldn't I stay awake then, sir?"
"You haven't slept since we heard the alarms back in the Camerone, have you?"
"Negative, El-tee."
"Then get your fifteen minute nap time," I told him. "That's an order."
"Yes, sir," Crow said, saluting sharply and moving back towards the store.
That left me all to my lonesome for precisely seventeen and a half minutes. By the time those minutes had passed I had already reloaded my magazines and made sure that my BR55HB was clean and serviceable. My pistol also received a quick check before being put back into its holster and I checked the edge on all three of my knives.
"Expecting trouble?" Schitzo asked me.
"Are you an idiot?" I asked back.
"I am you," he said simply. "You just don't want to admit it."
"Sir," Snark interrupted. "I'm seeing what one would consider hostile movements."
I nodded to myself. "Thanks, Snark. Who's leading them?"
"I haven't seen any elites yet," he replied. "Mostly grunts and jackals, but there was a hunter pair somewhere."
"Ok, the tank can handle those, get back here."
"Yes, sir."
I looked around at the still-sleeping men and the few that had remained awake to stand guard on the wall of cars. A few of them would be dead by the time all this was over, and that was if we got support. I just hoped that all my men would make it through this.
"Wake up everybody!" I shouted, making sure to broadcast my voice to every UNSC helmet in the area. "The Covenant decided to get his thumb off his ass and is coming to get us. Battle stations everyone!"
The squad leaders took over from there. Pavel woke up in an uproar and started ordering everyone about, making sure that the men remembered to move all the fresh Molotov cocktails close to the frontlines while keeping them away from the enemy's line of fire. My half of Reaper squad fell in behind me in a quasi-straight line and Mata's half formed up next to me. Bee handed me two beer bottles full of flammable engine oil.
I examined them and groaned. "Goddamit Andrea!"
"What?" she asked through the helmet. "What?!"
"Didn't I tell you to tape the rags to the bottom of the bottle?"
"You did?"
"It lets you grab the bottle by the neck," Bee explained. "Longer throwing reach."
"I know that!" Andy exclaimed. "I did like you said!"
I turned around and saw that indeed some of the cocktails had the rags taped to the bottom, but some others had it tied and taped around the neck of the bottles.
"Ouch, someone told on you, Lady," Pitcher chided.
"I–" she began.
"You what?" Pavel asked her.
"I'm sorry," she finished through clenched teeth.
"Damn right you are," Pavel added. "As soon as you're able to limp on that bad leg of yours you'll get right over here and take over waterboy duty."
"Understood," Lady said. "It won't happen again."
She was a stubborn one. I have no doubt that Andy explained very calmly and carefully why the rags should go on the top and not on the bottom, but Lady had been set in her ways and kept on doing it like she had started doing it. Then Andy decided to avoid a fight and just shrugged it off. Natasha had an attitude problem and needed to be fixed. Two years hadn't beaten it out of her, but maybe if she got a couple other times she'd finally grow some humility. Even if it was only around Team-7.
"Coming through!" Snark shouted, jumping over one of the shorter cars. He stumbled and used the large rifle he was carrying for support before he regained his balance. "Two or three companies. Grunts, jackals, and a hunter pair."
I looked around. There was about seventy of us here, barely a full company. Pound for pound the UNSC infantry was worth twice or three times as much as the Covenant's. Unfortunately, the Covenant races were usually much heavier. And there were just so many of them…
"Do we fire first, sir?" one of the Army sergeants asked me.
"Whoever hits first hits hardest, right?" I asked him. Only a second later did I imagine an old fashion musket battle, where both lines waited until the last possible second to fire their weapons. Grass would've pointed it out. "Wait until they are within one hundred meters. Then we fire."
"Yes, sir." The seventy men under my command replied.
"Tanks, shells only on the hunters," the tanker in charge said. "We'll stick to machine gun for the little ones."
"Good," I said. It was the last thing I said before the Covenant were within firing range.
Our opening barrage might've cut their numbers by a third, but they returned fire equally quickly. These grunts we were facing were nicely trained and the jackals providing support went a long way.
"Behind the Chevy!"
"I see them, I see them!"
"I said behind the car, you idiot, not in front of it!"
I ducked back behind cover as a pair of sharpshooters zeroed in on my position.
"Watch the shields, watch the shields!"
"They're closing in on the bus!"
"Don't let them get within grenade range!" I ordered.
It was a little bit too late. Grunts had surprisingly strong throwing arms when it came down to it, and three blue orbs of plasma were lobbed in our direction. The first one landed pretty short of our barrier, but the next two hit the undercarriage of one of the cars and bounced back down.
"Move!" Caboose shouted.
He jumped out of the way before the car was engulfed in a blue explosion that left me blinking wildly. Most of the vehicle was burned away, leaving only a burnt skeleton of a car that would easily be toppled over if even a single grunt got to it.
"Cover the gap!" Pavel shouted.
"Somebody check the wounded!"
"Hunter!"
"That's my cue," the tanker said.
His turret whirred and aimed at the hunter before firing. The shell hit the massive colony of worms right in the chest. The subsequent explosion tore it completely apart, leaving two smoking legs standing in place. Its bond brother roared savagely, sending waves that reverberated all throughout my body. It leaped clean over the bus and landed on top of a wounded grunt, splattering it completely. The tanker fired a second time, this time hitting the hunter in the left shoulder, tearing half its body off and killing it.
The Covenant advance slackened when they saw that, and the grunts fell back long enough to for us to pull out Caboose from the wreckage. He seemed to be fine save for a couple of minor burns. The car had taken the burnt of the explosion.
"Payat, check him," I ordered our able-bodied medic. "I want suppressing fire, don't let them move up."
Dotsenko and Ramirez propped their SAWs on the hoods of the cars and started firing long, sustained bursts. A few grunts and jackals fell prey to their fire, but mostly they just fell back behind the abandoned cars and buses. Already they had begun setting up barriers and barricades. It was strange to think that those defenses were well within the range of our tanks, but we were low on ammunition and I didn't want them to waste any of it.
"I have three Phantoms moving up!" Preacher called.
"Don't shoot at them unless they hover," I ordered the tankers. "Tank, Mata, how are you on rockets?"
"Still good," Tank said.
"Down to my last box," Sergeant Mata informed me.
"Target the lead Phantom," I ordered. "Aim for the engines."
The Phantoms bypassed our position, strafing us as they came. As soon as the first one had gone right over us Mata and Tank fired at the rear engines of the lead Phantom. Both their rockets hit the same engine at nearly the same time. The Phantom started strafing towards the abyss before its pilot jerked the controls violently and slammed it into the cliff walls, where kept on going. I watched with interest as the dropship slammed repeatedly into the wall before regaining some degree of stability. The moment Tank and Mata saw that they fired an additional missile each, hitting the Phantom's other engines and bringing it down on the highway. The Phantom crashed on the highway. The sudden increase in weight made the supports groan, but the highway held. I would really have to compliment the engineers on their work, even if their engineering actually worked against us.
"I can't believe that the highway is still standing," Polly said.
"At least the Phantom's blocking the road," Miranda said.
Phantom or no Phantom we were now about to be attacked from both sides. It was fortunate that we weren't being attacked on all sides and even more fortunate that the highway was only four lanes wide, otherwise the covvies would've been able to move a lot more personnel at us.
The other two Phantoms dropped their troops and the Covenant attack resumed, this time with them hitting us on both sides. The covvies sent waves of infantry at us, trying to get us to expose ourselves so that their sharpshooters would take us out. One Army soldier was killed that way and a couple others were wounded before I directed Snark, Miri, and Preacher to handle the jackals. As long as they were kept busy then we would be able to hold back the grunts and jackals moving towards us.
I cursed when a carbine round ricocheted off the car I was using for cover and grazed my helmet.
"That was close," I muttered after taking a deep breath.
"I'm seeing elite troops," Snark said. "A whole lot of them."
"You know the drill," I told him.
"Yes, sir."
It was quite obvious that the presence of the elites greatly helped the enemy morale. Soon we were being fired upon a lot more frequently and both grunts and jackals were leaving cover more often in order to get some good shots at us. The elites soon started running towards us, a few of them even drew energy swords. I shook my head at that. They were obviously delusional if they thought that four of them would kill all seventy of us.
Snark took out the first three with dead-accurate headshots while the fourth one was brought down by combined fire. The rest of the elites without swords suddenly realized that we weren't just going to let them vault over our barricade and took cover.
"They're setting up plasma cannons!"
"Don't let them get to the Chevy!"
"Goddamit Sasha! I said behind the truck!"
I cursed as more plasma fire rained down on my position. "Snark, what's the distance?"
"Between you and them? About sixty yards."
I nodded. "Longworth, get me the Molotovs."
"Sir, sixty yards is a pretty long way," he replied, nevertheless handing me the two bottles.
"I wouldn't worry about that," I told him.
"The El-tee's got a pretty good throwing arm," Bee said. "Watch."
"Suppressing fire!" I ordered.
The gunfire increased exponentially as everybody started firing blindly in the direction of the Covenant. I stood up and threw the first Molotov cocktail towards a relatively intact SUV. Even as my first cocktail made its way I saw an elite pop from cover to return fire. I smiled and threw the second cocktail at it as fast as my considerably enhanced muscles allowed me to.
I ducked behind cover and smiled when I heard the sounds of pain and suffering coming from a hingehead.
"Nice throw," Polly complimented. "Right in the face too."
"I aim to please," I told him.
Despite my incredibly brave and valiant efforts, the oil in the cocktails was consumed and the Covenant began attacking with their full strength once again. They started gaining some ground and throwing up the occasional deployable cover. It was amazing how just a few elites could make everything that much harder.
"Sir, should I blow it?" Polly asked. "I have the detonator right here."
"No," I said. "If we keep holding the line they'll send a Daemon after us."
"And that is good, how?" Pavel asked.
"We can bring it down, otherwise they'd just stop before the gap and snipe at us from there," I said.
"That's one hell of a risk we're taking, Frank," Pavel said. "We can draw a Daemon if you tell the tankers to fire more."
"That's true, sir," one of them said. "Daemon drivers are extremely competitive."
I sighed. "Find a priority target and blow it up," I ordered.
Before I was even done talking one of the tankers fired at the bus. The bus was torn in half and one section was thrown over the edge of the highway and down the cliff. I didn't see the results firsthand, but one could assume that the anti-personnel explosive had turned the bus into a big shrapnel grenade that in turn shredded through anything within range.
"Well that was certainly a big explosion," Pitcher noted. "Nice going."
"Now it's a waiting game," I sighed. "Oh well."
The battle stagnated slightly after that. The bus had been the biggest piece of cover that the Covenant had and now it was gone. A few deployable covers were close enough that we had to keep firing at them to discourage any attempts to move forward. On the other side of our barrier the Phantom proved to be an effective funnel and prevented the Covenant infantry from moving past it. That left us with a whole shitload of aliens on the other side. So far they weren't mobilizing their Wraiths, but the moment they did they would have a definitive advantage. We could still fall back into the station, the cliff walls around it were too steep for effective mortar fire, but the highway itself would be lost.
"Why aren't they bringing their mortars?" Caboose growled next to me. "Something's off."
"Could be they don't have any Wraiths close by," I told him. "Don't panic just yet."
"Did you hear that?" Caboose asked suddenly, looking up.
"Time to panic," I said. "Incoming!"
A plasma mortar shell fell directly in front of a car making our barrier. The car flew backwards, nicking one of the soldiers. Everybody else started moving away from the highway and falling back into the station as another pair of blue orbs rose up in the dawning sky. I quickly calculated where they would fall and decided that I was relatively safe. I ran towards the soldier that the car had hit and lifted her unconscious body from the highway. Her arm seemed to be dislocated and maybe broken in a couple of places, but she appeared to be alive.
"Sir, watch out!"
I increased my speed and stumbled when one of the mortars detonated a few meters behind me. I almost fell face-first, but Marv caught both of us before that happened.
"Can you see the Wraith?" I asked the tanker.
"Negative, sir!"
"What about you?" I asked the other Scorpion driver.
"No, but I've pinpointed its location. It's fifteen hundred meters away, maybe a little bit more. It's right behind a curve, the cliff won't let me hit it."
"Ah shit," I grunted, passing the wounded soldier to Marv. "Handle the enemy infantry," I said. "I've got a plan."
"Is that my cue?" Bee asked.
"That it is," I told him. "Get Mata's rocket launcher and come here ASAP."
Bee switched his Spartan Laser for a SPANKr and ran towards my position. He tossed me the rocket box and moved to the edge of the wall protecting us in order to see if he could spot the Wraith. While he did that I removed the two rockets from the pack and unscrewed the cap off them. They had three different firing modes: the traditional vehicle lock-on, no lock-on, and location lock-on. That last mode was a relic of the past, it was supposed to fly up and then straight down in order to hit a tank in the top of the turret, where the armor was weakest.
I set both rockets to that last mode and twisted the caps back on.
"Ready!" I told Bee. "Did you get it?"
"Yeah," he replied. "I'm going to nail this fuck."
"Just be quick about it," I told him, placing the rockets back into the box and throwing it to him. "If they cross the car wall."
"I know, I know," he said, loading his rocket launcher. "I got it. Firing."
He fired the two missiles in quick succession. I couldn't help but blink slightly as they suddenly flew straight upward after having gone a couple of meters. They climbed and climbed until they were right above the Wraith's position. From there they both immediately fell into a steep dive, disappearing behind the cliff wall.
The two explosions were followed by a complete cease of mortar fire.
"I don't know if I killed it," Bee said. "Could be I just scared the driver."
"It'll have to do," I told him. "Everybody back to defensive positions!"
My men and the soldiers rushed back to defend our wall before the covvies tried to overwhelm us again. This time we were barely in time, and Serge and Caboose had to run around with their shotguns to blast elites and grunts back to where they came from. Despite our success the elites managed to set up their own line less than forty meters away from our own defensive line.
"Shit, this is bad," Payat complained.
"Did I give you permission to bitch?" I asked him.
"Sorry, sir," he quickly apologized. "In a hospital I would have an entire department reporting to me," he muttered after that.
"Sir!" the Army sergeant said. "We can't hold out much longer like this!"
"Hand me your radio!" I ordered.
Having favors owed to you was all good and well, but owing someone a favor wasn't terribly bad if it meant you got to live another day.
"Camerone come in," I spoke into the radio. "Bolivar do you copy?"
"I copy," the AI came in. "The situation has stabilized somewhat her in orbit."
"By stabilized you mean something bad, don't you?"
"Yes, I do," Bolivar confirmed, chuckling. "We're in trouble."
"No, we're in trouble," I corrected. "Bolivar, I need you to get someone here to help ASAP. If we don't get help soon we'll be overwhelmed before the 61st shows up."
"There's not much I can do, Lieutenant. The air space in the area is completely under Covenant control."
"Shit," I cursed. "Are there any available AAG teams nearby? We kicked Team-4's ass in New Year. If they drop here we can call it even."
"Most AAG teams are doing decapitation strikes or in reserve right now," he told me. "Team-21 is the closest to you, but their situation is just as bad and I don't think you could call two hundred kilometers close."
I banged the ground with my fist and bit down a curse. "Anything you can do, Bolivar. Please. Hell, if you get us out of this mess we'll help fight the Covenant. All I need is to get out of this goddamned death trap."
"It's a defensible death-trap from what I can see," Bolivar said. "But I agree, you can't hold out much longer, especially if you factor in the ammunition levels you are currently at."
"Yeah, thanks." I sighed. "Is there anything you can do?"
"I'm working on something," Bolivar told me. "Don't get your hopes up."
"I never do," I said. "Tell me when you work something out."
"Will do, Lieutenant. Good luck."
"Thanks, Castillo out."
I took a deep breath. If we wanted to survive we would need to gain some ground, or at least pretend to be attempting that.
"Don't skimp on the Molotovs!" I shouted. "Use them!"
Immediately after that some ten or eleven cocktails were lobbed into the wall of deployable covers that the Covenant had set up. The flames couldn't go through it, but some of the oil did sneak through, lighting up a few aliens on fire.
"Marv, Longworth, Serge, get over here!" I ordered. "You see those two cars? The ones that crashed together? We're going to get that position."
"Are you sure that's a good idea, sir?" Longworth asked.
"I'm with him on this one, El-tee," Marv said. It's a helluva risk."
"Serge, what do you think?" I asked the Frenchman.
"Poutain toujours avec nous," he said.
"See? He doesn't mind," I said. "Pavel, suppressing fire!"
Pavel grunted as he lifted his machine gun. "Don't die."
"If anyone is going to die," I said. "It ain't gonna be me."
"Great," Longworth said.
"Go!" I ordered, vaulting over the cars. "Move!"
Serge and Marv followed me, while Longworth took off while we covered for him. He slid into cover and the rest of us started running just as our Molotov cocktails started fading. Marv and Serge fell into cover just as a pair of sharpshooters zeroed in on me. I jumped forward and slammed into the ground. My shoulder was sore, something had hit me.
"Grenades, use your grenades!" I shouted.
Marv and Longworth tossed two frags each, but Serge waited for them to explode before firing his shotgun at the stunned survivors.
I smiled. From this position we had an interesting angle on the covvie soldiers. We didn't exactly have a flanking angle on them, but it was close enough that they'd stop trying to move forward until they had dealt with us. That meant that the four of us were now the sole focus of the Covenant forces.
No wonder I brought my three best fighters with me.
"Snark, Preacher, I want dedicated support for us," I ordered my sharpshooters. "Miranda, start targeting enemy leadership. Pavel–"
"I got you, Frank," he said.
I started firing at everything that moved in front of me. The Covenant got angry and started trying to take this position by force, but they couldn't come from our side or they'd fall prey to machine gun fire and they couldn't really come head on because this pile of cars was protected by four of humanity's best shots. In addition to that we had two tanks firing into their ranks whenever too many of them got together.
"I see a Daemon," Miri informed rather calmly.
"Polly, heads up," I informed the man. "As soon as the tank is over your charges you blow it up."
"Yes, sir."
A plasma shell flew past me, tearing the roof of one of the cars and hitting one of the Scorpions. The tank shook but returned fire at the Daemon, presumably hitting it. I cursed and fired into an elite's chest, depleting its shields and letting Marv finish it off.
"We're not good for much longer," Longworth muttered.
"We've angered them," I said. "They're throwing themselves into the fire."
"That fire is a little bit too close for comfort," Marv said. "Sir, they will encircle us."
"Daemon in range!" Polly shouted. "Detonating!"
The blast was surprisingly anticlimactic. The explosion was loud and everything, but the section of highway fell with surprisingly little ceremony. The metal groaned slightly and then a very large section of the highway just fell down, taking with it a Daemon tank and a dozen infantry soldiers.
"Huh," I said. "We could've done that earlier."
We finished off the rest of the Covenant soldiers on this side of the gap with some effort before the rest of them began closing the gap with a pair of metal bridges carried by Phantom dropships.
"Well that was all for nothing then," Longworth complained.
"It bought is some time," I told him. "Fall back to the defensive line. This is going to suck."
Twenty minutes later half of my team was wounded and about a third of the Army men were dead. In addition to Andy and Lady several of my men had taken hits. Preacher, Ramirez, Bee, and Crow were unconscious, with that last one in critical condition. Pavel, Caboose, and Marv had taken minor hits but were still in fighting shape while Miranda was clutching at a wound in her left leg, stifling cries of pain.
"Sir, get back here!" Tank shouted. "Lieutenant!"
One of the tanks blew up when I looked up, being hit by what appeared to be fuel rod cannons. A piece of shrapnel flew at the head of the soldier I was tending to, putting him out of his misery. I punched the ground and ran towards the tank, jumping on top of the hatch. The driver was crying out, trying to extinguish the flames that were consuming him.
I reached inside the compartment and yanked him out, unceremoniously throwing him down to the ground, where he started rolling and flapping at his arms before he took off his shirt and helmet, both of which were on fire.
"Get him some armor!" I ordered loudly, clutching my side. "Into the store!"
Already twenty-something soldiers were crammed into the shop, moving the various shelves to cover the windows. A few of my men were going into the back and climbing up the roof, while the Scorpion driver rolled his tank backwards and placed it next to the store.
"This is it!" I shouted. "Don't let them get close or bring fuel rods to bear! Get the wounded in the back!"
There were cries of pain and curses all around me, but everybody steadied themselves for what was to come. The Covenant would bring everything they had on us, trying to take as many of us out as possible in the initial barrage.
"Come on, come on, come on," Polly muttered next to me. "What's taking them so long?"
"They're coming," I said. "Just building up their numbers."
True enough. The covvies somehow managed to get two Shadow troop transports over the bridge and placed them one in front of the other. Our Scorpion driver blew them both up, but the transports remained there, forming a neat little line that would provide cover to all those that were about to come.
"Lieutenant, do you copy?" Bolivar came in. "Castillo?"
"I copy," I said. "Seems like you're a little bit too late."
The AI actually chuckled. "I don't think that is any way to thank me."
Before I could ask what he meant I heard the familiar sound of HEV slamming into the surface. I looked out the window and saw five pods standing right in front of the two destroyed Shadows. They opened and transparent shapes came out. It was hard, even for my enhanced eyes, to keep track of the figures as they moved, firing at the Covenant troops. Within a minute they had neutralized every last alien near the station and then began moving out.
Five Helljumpers would've helped, but not much.
He didn't…
"Lieutenant Castillo?" a voice came in on my helmet. "Somebody up there is looking out for you and your team."
"Thanks for the assist," I said, moving towards the door. "Is it clear?"
"Clear enough," the voice replied. There was still gunfire going on.
I opened the door and walked out, with the few of my men that weren't wounded following me with their weapons up.
I spotted a gelatinous shape in front and stopped, gesturing for my men to lower their weapons.
An armored shape materialized in front of me, carrying an MA5K rifle across its chest and sporting a helmet that consisted almost entirely of a golden visor. The rest of its armor looked similar to what I had seen the Spartans wear. I frowned slightly until I remembered where I had seen this armor before. Back in New Constantinople, when I came across Carter for the first time.
"Jonah-G012," the Spartan-III said. "Pleasure."
Snark guffawed. "I guess the Brass does give a shit."
Thanks for reading this chapter.
Readers, this is probably the last chapter that I'll post for about a month. I am currently living in my grandparents' house while the big move is all done. I am also going to summer camp as a slave (I get paid in community service hours) for three weeks, which means that I don't get to do any writing. I might do a bunch of brainstorming, but that's about it. I made sure to get a nice chapter good and ready for when I get back. I'll post it as soon as I have boots on the ground in the states. Then I'll see about going to the football tryouts in my new school. I'll try to kick some ass, but I'll probably get mine kicked.
Anyways, this is the first chapter that features Team Falcata of Gamma Company. Look Falcata in your preferred search engine, it's a bloody nice sword. I even bought me one when I was in Toledo. My brother got himself a katana. I mean, who the hell goes to Spain to buy a (replica) of a Japanese sword? He does, that's chapter also featured some minor injuries and some painful injuries. The two tankers didn't get names because I was planning on killing both of them, but I decided that it would be kind of mean to kill both of them for their awesomeness. Reach is just getting started boys and girls, I fear that it might not be nearly as long as Paris IV was, but this battle lasted for barely a month when Paris IV stretched out for the better part of a year. To counter that I'll make sure to make every chapter as long and epic as possible. There'll be stunts, there'll be awesomeness, and there'll be blood. You'll enjoy this and I'll try to do it justice.
In case you were wondering. Team Falcata is: Jonah-G012 (leader), Miranda-G192 (electronics and explosives), Alex-G301 (sniper), Eduardo-G271 (close-quarters), and Kevin-G111 (machine guns and heavy weapons).
I hope you enjoyed the read.
Stay strong.
-casquis